Ph2 172 upgrade time for brakes & suspension

[jammiedodger]

Hi all,
Time has come to think about giving the suspension & braking of my stock 03 plate 172 FF (55,000 miles) an overhaul. For convenience I've looked mainly at the KTEC site as they offer potentially everything I'm likely to need/afford. I'm reasonably convinced on purchasing the front strut brace,uprated suspension mounts and poly bush kit all round, but I'm not so sure on shock and springs or braking combinations. I can tolerate a slightly firmer ride but not so hard that I shake my fillings out as the majority of driving is around town where speed humps are more common than potholes. Budget for the suspension is @ £700 (excluding the parts I've already commited funds to) but I don't know whether to simply play it safe and replace OE with OE items or to venture down the KTR/Koni/A N Other route and/or invest a little more and go for a coilover set.

Onto the braking set (discs & pads) up I'm looking for something that performs better than OE from a cold start, but then gives increased performance when pushing the car hard. Other cars I've owned when moving away from OE generally have compromised cold start braking feel (wooden pedal) so as I mentioned earlier 80% of the time is around town driving to which the OE set up gives a great feel so I'm interested in retaining cold start braking over at the edge track situations. I'm thinking of putting braided lines in as part of the upgrade. What I'm not clear on is should I focus on front end braking and leave the rears stock or upgrade all round as budget wise I'd like to keep it to around £350 (discs & pads). So opinions please, preferably from actual experience rather than a mate of mate said.......

Cheers Jamie

 

[Bazzon]

Brakes - Braided lines, Brembo max/HC discs, Ferado DS2500 pads, Run stock rears, they dont do much

Suspension, Coilovers if you can afford it but buy decent ones, KW/Vmaxx seem to get good reviews on here. Never used either my self besause we have ASTs on the track car.

If Not Eibach Sportlines are the highest rated sprrings on here, Roughly a 30mm drop, the Prolines preform better but dont give the car much of a drop.

Personally i wouldnt bother with the front strut brace.

Top mounts Id go for AST top mounts, but im sure others will like others. Our solid top mounts were crap.

 

[b33fy172]

http://www.k-tecracing.com/show_product.asp?id=2787


This for brakes. With plenty of money left over for braided lines and uprated fluid

 

[Mark One]

Theres loads of price difference between KW and V-maxx isnt there? Be interested to hear how they compare from someone who has driven both

 

[Bazzon]

Theres loads of price difference between KW and V-maxx isnt there? Be interested to hear how they compare from someone who has driven both

Dont know never looked into it, because we have ASTs on track car and personally i wouldnt buy Coilovers for my road car.

Just going of the names that crop up on here alot

 

[jammiedodger]

Ok guys thanks for the feedback so far but can I clarify a couple of points;

Should I ditch the structbrace and spend the money on the coilover kit ,on the basis the clio doesn't 'flex' that much??

Secondly brake choice sounds okay moneywise, do I simply leave the rear set up as is??

Cheers Jamie

 

[Lee-182]

I wouldnt bother with front strut brace and i would keep the read pads and discs standard as said above they dont do the hard work.

 

[Mark One]

If i were you, I'd certinally start with a whiteline rear ARB as recently sold in a group buy on here. That should help balance the under/oversteer characteristic better.

From there decide which way you want to go on coilovers. At the top end theres billstein and AST, then KW V2, then FK and Vmaxx. Everyone has their own opinions about what's best and what's worth the $